Can OU, FSU, Oregon avoid USC's fate?

Jim Cowsert/US PresswireLandry Jones will have to step up his game against Kansas State this weekend.

It didn't take long for the national championship picture to change shape. USC isn't out of it -- it's September; no one this side of Colorado is -- but the Trojans' hopes took a significant hit Saturday at Stanford.

Lane Kiffin's team, primarily because of its star power on offense, was thought to be the lead contender in providing America with a champion outside of the SEC. Then it actually played someone.Hawaii and Syracuse revealed something about the Trojans, but Stanford exposed weaknesses -- like the O-line's inability to protect Matt Barkley -- that weren't even previously perceived.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Travis Haney

Travis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.

A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.

Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.